Joke's on who?

This morning, President Obama pointed out that his daughters' D.C. school was closed today due to the early morning ice storm that blanketed the region. He joked that, in Chicago, schools never close, and, perhaps, Washingtonians needed a little toughening up.

Well, the president's children go to a private school, Sidwell Friends, which was closed today.

But D.C. public schools were open.

Apparently Sidwell's campuses based their decision on suburban closings. D.C. schools opened two hours late.

Mayor Adrian Fenty put out a statement about the city's determination to open schools.

"(Our) first priority is to open schools to fulfill our obligation to educate our students whenever possible," Fenty said. "The decision to delay (2 hours) was made … after careful consideration of weather conditions and forecasts of warming temperatures. We remain sensitive to the needs of families who are not able to arrange child care when schools must unexpectedly close and to the children who depend on a healthy meal (at school.)"

Tom Sherwood is a reporter for WRC, the local Washington, D.C., NBC affiliate.